GARDEN SQUARE QUILT BLOCK

Here’s a pretty little quilt block to start the week with. I saw it originally in three shades of green but I was worried that all the greens would merge into one blob in the photo so that’s why I changed the path around the middle to yellow. Even so, I’m not sure if the difference between the two greens that I have used shows up enough. I have made it here as a 12″ block.

Cutting requirements

4.7/8″ squares: two each in light green and white

2.7/8″ squares: six each in dark green and white

4.1/2″ by 2.1/2″ rectangles: four yellow

Making the garden square quilt block

Make half square triangles

Make half square triangles with all the squares. Place a green and a white square with right sides together and mark a line along the diagonal. Sew a 1/4″ seam either side of the marked line and cut along the line to produce two half square triangles from each pair of squares. These will be either 4.1/2″ squares (for the light green) or 2.1/2″ squares (for the dark green).

Garden square quilt block layout

Lay the squares out with the larger, light green half square triangles in the corners. Four dark green/white half square triangles are placed in the middle with the white triangles forming a diamond shape. The remaining light green/white half square triangles are placed in pairs on the remaining edges of the quilt block with the yellow rectangles just inside them.

Sew the squares in pairs

Sew the dark green/white half square triangles together in pairs. Note that all the white triangles are placed to form a larger white triangle which points inwards. Sew each yellow rectangle to the pair of half square triangles beside it and sew the two pairs together in the centre to create the diamond shape.

Sew the squares together across each row

The patchwork squares now form three squares across each row for three rows. Sew them together across each row and then sew the rows together to complete the garden square quilt block.